Timeline of the Holocaust Asset Guide

1

Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1933

JAN 30-

FEB 1Adolf Hitler becomes

chancellor of Germany

Hindenburg and Hitler in Potsdam, Germany

Stickers with Nazi propaganda slogans: "One People, One

Reich, One Fuhrer" Echoes Student Handout: The Weimar Republic and the Rise of the Nazi Party

Harry Hankin describes the day Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany

and reflects on the belief of older German Jews who thought Hitler would

only be in power for a short period of time.

Key Historical Concepts in Holocaust Education: The

Weimar Republic

A sign calling on Germans to greet each other with "Heil

Hitler"

FEB 27-

MAR 5

Reichstag arson leads to state of emergency

The Reichstag building after being set on fire in Berlin, Germany, on February 27, 1933

Henry Small recalls being called to work on the night of the Reichstag arson.

MAR 5

Reichstag elections: the Nazis gain 44 percent of

the vote

Hitler voting in elections at Koenigsberg, Germany, 1933

Graph: results of elections to the German Reichstag, March

5, 1933

MAR 22

First concentration camp is established in

Dachau, Germany

A view of the barracks in the camp of Dachau, Germany

Key Historical Concepts in Holocaust Education: Nazi

Camps

Echoes Student Handout: Concentration Camps

Herbert Kahn describes why and how his older brother was arrested and sent

to Dachau.

MAR 24

The Nazis sponsor the Enabling Act

Adolf Hitler watches an SA procession in Dortmund,

Germany, 1933

Key Historical Concepts in Holocaust Education: The

Totalitarian Regime

APR 1

The Nazis declare a boycott of all Jewish

businesses in Germany

A man supporting the boycott of Jewish businesses, next to

a Jewish-owned store in Berlin, Germany, April 1933

Sign from Nazi Germany: "Jews are not wanted here"

Otto Hertz remembers the humiliation he felt when his family's store was

boycotted.Nazi propaganda, boycott sign, 1933 Sign from "The German

Workers' Front" which reads "Free of Jews" A Nazi propaganda sticker

APR 7

Civil Service Reform - Jews are barred from

working in the civil service and are stripped

of their equal rights

A sign in Germany calling for a general boycott of all Jewish

businesses, April 1933

Nameplate of Dr. Werner Liebenthal, Notary &

Advocate

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Exemptions from the Civil Service Law,

Berlin, April 4, 1933

APR 25

School quota system limits the number of

Jewish high school and university students in

Germany

A class in a Jewish school before the war, Berlin, Germany

Judith Becker recounts the consequences of her brother being allowed to attend school for longer

than other Jewish students.

Heinz Bohm discusses why he was allowed to go to school in 1933.

MAY 10

The Nazis burn thousands of anti-Nazi, Jewish-authored, and

other books

SS men gathering books to be burned in Germany A public burning of books in

Berlin, Germany, May 10, 1933 A book burning in Berlin,

Germany, 1933

JUL 14

Forced sterilization of German citizens with congenital disabilities

begins

Propaganda slide featuring two doctors working at an unidentified asylum for the mentally ill, Germany, 1934

Reich Law Gazette, July 25, 1933, with the announcement of the Law for the Prevention

of Diseased Offspring

JUL 14

Germany is proclaimed a one-party state

Hitler mounting the staircase during a gathering of the NSDAP in Bueckeberg, Germany, 1934

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Excerpt from the Compendium of the

Constitutional Laws and Principles of Nazi Ideology (Weltanschauung)

OCT 14

Germany quits League of Nations and

disarmament talks

Hitler announcing on the radio Germany's withdrawal

from the League of Nations in Berlin, Germany, 1933

Letter from German Foreign Minister, Konstantin von

Neurath, stating Germany’s withdrawal from the League

of Nations

NOV 12

The Nazi Party gets 92 percent of the vote in

one-party elections

A Nazi parade in Meiningen, Germany, 1931

Graph: results of elections to the German Reichstag,

November 12, 1933

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Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1934

JAN 26

German-Polish non-aggression pact

Photograph of Polish statesman, Józef Piłsudski

JUN 30

"The Night of the Long Knives"

Photograph of Ernst Roehm, the SA Chief of Staff Ludwig Spiro discusses the death of his

neighbor on "The Night of the Long Knives".

AUG 2

German President Hindenburg dies

President Hindenburg in Germany, before the war

President Hindenburg with Hitler, in Germany Hitler in uniform next to a

soldier carrying a swastika flag in Germany

Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1935

JAN 13

Germany reclaims the Saar region

A march in the Saar region of Germany on the day of the referendum about Saar, January 13, 1935

Map of Europe after 1919 and the Treaty of Versailles

Lidia Vago recounts how a stamp made her understand one of the goals of Nazi

Germany: land expansion.

MAR 16

Military conscription in Germany begins

Adolf Hitler standing with military men before the Tower of Honor on the Remembrance Day for German heroes, Berlin,

Germany, 1935

MAY 31

Jewish people are no longer allowed to serve in the German armed

forces

A mass assembly of the German army in Munich, Germany, November 7, 1935

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Protest of the Reichsvertretung against the refusal

to include Jews in the Wehrmacht, March 1935

SEP 15

Nuremberg Laws enacted

A Nazi parade, 1935 Measuring instrument for

racial classifications from the 1930s

Echoes Student Handout: Nazi Germany and Anti-Jewish Policy

Herbert Kohn details how Nuremberg Laws impacted his father's business.

A chart from Germany displaying who was considered

a Jew according to the Nuremberg Laws

A tool used for measuring the bridge of the nose for racial

purposes

Key Historical Concepts in Holocaust Education: Nuremberg Laws

Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1936

MAR 7

The Germans enter the Rhineland

On the left, the German army entering the Rhineland; on the right, a tank manufacturing plant

JUL 17

The Spanish Civil War begins

Spain's Head of State, Francisco Franco, making a speech in Bilbao, Spain, June 1939

Irene Spiegel, a member of the United Professionals union, explains her

decision to go to Spain as a nurse during the Spanish Civil War.

AUG 1

The Summer Olympic Games begin in Berlin

German athletes are giving the Nazi salute during an awards

ceremony at the Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany,

1936

Bearers of the Olympic flag in Berlin, Germany, 1936 Yad Vashem Resource Center: Order to

party leaders in Bavaria to remove anti-Jewish signs, Summer 1936

Anthony Marreco remembers attending the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany.Athletes Jesse Owens and Luz

Long in Berlin, Germany, 1936

SEP 9

The Four Year Plan is unveiled

A photograph of a military training of German soldiers

A traveling exhibition of the "Four Year Plan" in Krakow,

Poland

OCT 25

The Rome-Berlin Axis Agreement is signed

between Italy and Germany based on political interests

Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Germany, 1934

Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in uniform

NOV 25

Germany and Japan sign a military pact

Hitler receiving a delegation from the Japanese navy in

Berlin, Germany, 1934

Signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact, 1936

Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1937

MAR 21

Pope Pius XI responds to German racist policies

Pope Pius XI, head of the Catholic Church between 1922 to 1939

JUL 19

Buchenwald concentration camp is

established in Germany

Barbed wire fences and a watchtower at Buchenwald, Germany; photograph taken

post-war

Key Historical Concepts in Holocaust Education: Nazi

Camps Echoes Student Handout: Concentration Camps

Chess set made from paper in Buchenwald by political

prisoner, Hermann Rautenberg

A prisoner's coat from Buchenwald

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Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1938

MAR 11-13

The Anschluss –The Annexation of Austria

by Nazi Germany

A Photograph of the entry of the German army into

Scharnitz, Austria, on March 13, 1938

A concluding parade in Vienna, Austria, prior to the referendum concerning the annexation of Austria to the

Reich

Map of Nazi Domination in Europe, 1938-1942

Alice Boddy recounts her brother finding her and taking her home on

the day of the Anschluss.

JUN 14

Jewish businesses have to register as Jewish

Storefront in Wuerzburg, Germany, with signs calling to

boycott Jewish businesses with SS members outside the

store, April 1, 1933

A sign on a store owned by German Jews

SA men hanging an antisemitic sign on a Jewish store

JUL 6

Anti-Jewish economic policies restrict Jews’

access to many fields of activity

A Jewish woman, who is concealing her face, sits on a park bench marked "Only for Jews"

JUL 6 The Evian Conference

The Evian Conference in Evian, France, July 13, 1938

Yad Vashem Resource Center: "No One Wants to Have Them," article from

German newspaper, dated July 13, 1938

Miriam Gerber: After the Evian Conference, the Dominican Republic was the only country that welcomed Jewish refugees, including Miriam's

family.

Echoes Student Handout: Evian Conference

Liesl Loeb discusses how immigration quotas impacted her family.

AUG 17

Compulsory middle names for Jews in

Germany are required in order to identify them

as Jews

Isle "Sara" Weill’s German passport, issued on May 20, 1940 Louis Goldman describes the impact of

being forced to use "Israel" as his middle name.

SEP 29

The Munich Agreement: Great Britain and France

accept German annexation of parts of

Czechoslovakia

The leaders after the signing of the Munich Agreement in

Munich, Germany, September 29, 1938

Neville Chamberlain, in England, waving the signed agreement after returning

from the Munich Conference

A propaganda poster from Czechoslovakia

OCT 5

Passports of German Jews are marked with

the letter “J”

A Jewish passport stamped with the letter "J" Arnold Isaak displays his passport and

explains why his passport was stamped with a "J."

OCT 28

17,000 Polish-born Jews are expelled from

Germany to Poland; most are interned in

Zbaszyn

Jewish deportees in line for soup at the mobile kitchen in Zbaszyn, Poland, November 1938

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Letter by Emmanuel Ringelblum on the refugees in Zbaszyn, dated December 6th, 1938

Esther Clifford recalls her family being deported to Zbaszyn, Poland.

Map of Poland, 1933

NOV 9-10 Kristallnacht Pogrom

A synagogue on fire during Kristallnacht in Siegen, Germany, November 10, 1938

Echoes Student Handout: About Kristallnacht

Esther Clifford remembers witnessing the chaos and destruction of

Kristallnacht.

The Horowitz Synagogue in Frankfurt Am Main, Germany, on Kristallnacht, November 1938 Heydrich's Instructions, November 1938 Kurt Messerschmidt describes

Kristallnacht and remembers the silence of bystanders.The interior of a ruined synagogue in Koenigsbach, Germany,

after Kristallnacht, November 11, 1938 Letter by Margarete Drexler to the

Gestapo

NOV 10

Italy adopts antisemitic racial laws

Nazi, Fascist, and antisemitic graffiti on the walls of a synagogue a short while after the publication of the racial laws in Trieste, Italy,

December 1938

Miriam Frankel recounts the impact Italy's antisemitic laws had on her

family.

NOV 12

Nazi leaders enact new laws to economically

remove Jews from society

A list of laws pertaining to the confiscation of Jewish property in Germany

A Jewish doctor and his accomplice being marched

through the streets by SA men

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Regulation for the elimination of the

Jews from the economic life of Germany, November 12, 1938 Rachel Kern describes why her

grandparents were forced to sell their family store.Yad Vashem Resource Center:

Regulation for the payment of an expiation fine by Jews who are German

subjects, November 12, 1938

NOV 15

Jewish children are banned from public

schools

Children of the Jewish school in an arts and crafts class in

Bonn, Germany, 1938

A page from a children's antisemitic booklet called

"Beware of the Fox" Anne Bloch remembers being told she was no longer allowed to attend

school.The playing board of an antisemitic game called "Jews

Out"

Game pieces from an antisemitic game called "Jews

Out"

DEC 2First Kindertransport

arrives in Great Britain

Jewish children arriving in London, United Kingdom,

December 13, 1938 A little girl who arrived on the

first Kindertransport from Germany, holding her doll in Harwich, United Kingdom,

December 2, 1938

Echoes Student Handout: Poem: When it Happened by Hilda Schiff

Ralph Mollerick describes what happened when he and his sister were

sent on the Kindertransport.Two children who arrived on

the Kindertransport to Scotland, United Kingdom,

before the war

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Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1939

MAR 15

The Germans occupy Bohemia and Moravia

German occupation in Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia Map of partition of Czechoslovakia, 1938-1939

Vera Gissing recalls waking up and realizing her hometown had been

invaded.

MAR 28

The civil war in Spain ends

Francisco Franco escorted by the Mora Guard in San

Sebastian after the Spanish Civil War, 1939

General Moscardó showing Heinrich Himmler the ruins of

the Alcázar

JUN 6

The MS St. Louis, a ship with 936 Jewish

refugees, is turned away by Cuba, the United

States, and other countries

A Jewish refugee looking out through a port-hole on the ship, MS St. Louis

Map of the voyage of the St. Louis, May 13-June 17, 1939

Gerald Granston remembers being a passenger on the St. Louis.

Refugees on the ship St. Louis in Hamburg, Germany, 1939 Painting: The Refugee Sol Messinger recalls his experience

on the St. Louis.

AUG 23

Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression pact

The signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in Moscow,

USSR, 1939

Joseph Stalin (right) meeting with German foreign minister

Joachim von Ribbentrop (center) in Moscow for the

signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement

Jack Arnel discusses the secret, non-aggression pact signed between Germany and the Soviet Union.

SEP 1

Germany invades Poland, beginning World

War II

German soldiers dismantling a barrier on the German/Poland border, 1939

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Hitler orders the attack on Poland, August 31,

1939 Sarah Kleinplatz recounts her experience during the first few days of

World War II.

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Entry from diary of Yarden regarding the

German occupation of Poland, dated September 7, 1939

SEP 3

Great Britain, France, India, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand declare war on

Germany

The front page of a Washington, DC newspaper

on September 3, 1939

Propaganda poster promoting the joint war effort of the

British Empire and Commonwealth, 1939

SEP 17

The Soviets invade Poland

Soviet cavalry on parade in Lvov, Poland, after the city's surrender to the Red Army during 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland

Jack Arnel remembers when his hometown, Vilna, was invaded and

overrun by the Soviet Army.

SEP 21

Establishment of Jewish councils and the

concentration of Jews into the larger cities of

Poland

The first Jewish Council in Reichenbach, Germany

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Regulation for the establishment of Jewish councils, November 28, 1939 Regina Eisenstein discusses the

establishment and impact of the Jewish Council.Echoes Student Handout: The Ghettos

Map of ghettos in Nazi occupied Europe, 1939-1944

SEP 28

Poland is divided between Germany and

the Soviet Union

The new border between Nazi Germany and the USSR from

September 1939 to June 1941, somewhere in the occupied

territory of Poland

German-Soviet border drawn-out in the aftermath of the

Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland

Map of Nazi domination in Europe, 1938-1942

OCT 4

The Warsaw (Poland) Jewish Council is

established

Adam Czerniakow, the head of the Jewish Council in Warsaw, Poland, in his office

Renia Britstone recounts the suicide of Adam Czerniakow, head of the Jewish

Council in Warsaw.

OCT 7

Jewish “resettlement” in the Lublin district of

Poland begins; plans are made to establish a

Jewish “reservation”

Jews being transferred from their houses to the ghetto of Lublin, Poland, under the supervision of senior SS men

OCT 8

The first ghetto is established in Piotrkow

Trybunalski, Poland

A photograph of seven children including Ytzhak Reichenbaum (the husband of the submitter, Bella Reichenbaum) in the ghetto

of Piotrkow Trybunalski, Poland

Franka Berk recalls the establishment of the Piotrkow ghetto, and the

repercussions it caused her family.

OCT 26

Civil administration (Generalgouvernement) is established in Poland

Generalgouvernement officials visiting the ghetto of Lublin,

Poland

A guard checking identification papers at the

entrance to the Warsaw district Generalgouvernement,

April 1941

Henryk Grynberg discusses the differences between life in German-

occupied Poland and life in the Generalgouvernement.

NOV 23

Jews in Poland are required to wear the Jewish Badge (Star of

David)

Armband belonging to a Jew working in Stanislsawow

ghetto

Key Historical Concepts in Holocaust Education: The

Jewish Badge Yad Vashem Resource Center:

Regulation for the identification of Jewish men and women in the

Government-General, November 23, 1939

Abram Appel remembers the consequences of wearing a Star of

David. A woman selling armbands in the ghetto, Warsaw, Poland,

September 19, 1941

Armband belonging to a Jew under forced labor in the

Tarnopol ghetto

DEC 2

The Nazis initiate use of gas vans to eliminate German patients with

mental disabilities

Hitler's permission to grant euthanasia to incurably sick patients, dated September 1, 1939

Wolf Hochman discusses the Nazi ideology behind the killing of the

mentally ill.

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Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1940

JAN 24

Jewish property in Generalgouvernement is

registered The Generalgouvernement officers with property, Krakow, Poland

APR 9Germany invades

Denmark and Norway

Hitler on the deck of a ship in Norway

Arne Christiansen remembers the night Denmark was invaded.

Reidar Dittman discusses the invasion of Norway.

APR 30

The Lodz ghetto is sealed

Jews crossing the bridge that connected the two sections of

the Lodz ghetto

Children playing in a ghetto street, Lodz, Poland, 1940

Echoes Student Handout: The Lodz Ghetto

George Shainfarber reflects on life, death, and hunger in the Lodz ghetto.

Folding Hanukkah menorah given by the manager of the

paper factory in the Lodz ghetto to Mordechai

Rumkowski, head of the Lodz ghetto Jewish Council

Brooch depicting part of the Lodz ghetto: the bridge

connecting the two sections of the ghetto, the church

adjacent to the ghetto and a guard

Echoes Student Handout: Poem by an Unknown Girl

Lola Blady remembers when the Lodz ghetto was sealed.

MAY 10

Germany invades Belgium and the

Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes Prime

Minister of England

The German army entering Belgium, May 1940

Photograph of Sir Winston Churchill

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Excerpt from memoir of Leesha Rose regarding

the German invasion of The Netherlands

Ingrid Altman discusses the German invasion of Belgium.

Martha Ekelmans recounts the German invasion of the Netherlands.

MAY 26

The Allies evacuate forces to England at

Dunkirk

Evacuation of British troops from the beach at Dunkirk in France, May, 1940

Lottie Landauer remembers stumbling upon the evacuation of Dunkirk.

JUN 14 Germany occupies Paris

A "V" on a German military car in Paris, France, August 1941

German army troops marching into Paris, France on

June 14, 1940 Yvette Frydman recalls how empty

Paris felt the day of the German invasion.German soldiers taking control of French government offices in

Paris, France on July 4, 1940

JUN 14

The deportation of Polish political prisoners

to Auschwitz concentration camp

begins

First transport to Auschwitz Fragments of eyeglasses belonging to Bluma Walach,

from Lodz, who was murdered at Auschwitz

The suitcase with which Hanna Fanta arrived at

Auschwitz

JUL 10

The Vichy France government is formed

Henri Philippe Petain, Head of State of Vichy, France

A German military unit, marching down the Champs-Élysées in Paris, July 4, 1940

Map of Vichy France

AUG 13

The Battle of Britain begins

German planes that went into service in 1937, called Heinkel

He 111s bombers

The Home Front in Britain during the Second World War

Churchill wearing a helmet during an air raid warning in

the Battle of Britain, 1940

SEP 7

The German “Blitz” on England reaches a

climax with massive air raids on British cities

Ruins of buildings after German bombardment of London, United Kingdom, on May 10, 1941

Edith Reiss remembers the Battle of Britain.

OCT 3

The Vichy government establishes anti-Jewish legislation, the Statut

des Juifs

A poster in France inciting against the Jews, "who are

taking over the French economy"

A false identity card presenting a Jew named

Denice Tal as a Catholic nun named Helen Tronel

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Telegram regarding antisemetic measures in

occupied France, sent August 20, 1940

NOV 15

The Warsaw ghetto is sealed

Jewish families arriving in the Warsaw ghetto with their

belongings

Jews being taken from the ghetto for forced labor by

German soldiers

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Order by Fischer on the establishment of a ghetto

in Warsaw, Poland, from October 2, 1940

Henry Greenblatt recounts how the sealing of the Warsaw ghetto

impacted his life.

In a cellar in the Warsaw ghetto, little Zosia played with

Zuzia, the doll that her mother, Natalia Zajczyk, had

made for her

Children wearing rags next to the Warsaw ghetto wall

Groups of hungry youths, known as “snatchers,” waited on ghetto streets in order to snatch parcels containing food

Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1941

MAR 20

The Krakow ghetto in Poland is sealed

Hans Frank, Governor of the Generalgouvernement,

standing in a city center of Krakow, Poland, May 1940

Jews moving to the ghetto of Krakow, Poland Bernard Offen describes sneaking in

and out of the sealed off Krakow ghetto.

A Jewish man and two German policemen in the

Krakow ghetto

APR 6Germany invades

Yugoslavia and Greece

The German invasion of Greece, photo taken April 7,

1941

Cloth sign printed in Serbo-Croat and German,

announcing that the business is in Jewish hands

Helly Holder remembers the invasion of Yugoslavia.

Soula Molho recalls how everything changed after the German occupation

of Greece.

APR 24

The Lublin ghetto is sealed

Jews on their way to the ghetto, with ruined buildings

in the background, Lublin, Poland, May 1941

A Lublin ghetto street scene

A street in the Lublin ghetto, photographed by German

soldiers from their automobile

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Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1941

JUN 6

Wehrmacht issues the “Commissar Order”

German soldiers advancing in Russia, July 1941

First page of the "Commissar Order," dated June 6, 1941

JUN 22

Operation Barbarossa: The German invasion of

the Soviet Union

A document of the high command of the Wehrmacht,

which reads, "directions to Operation Barbarossa"

During Operation Barbarossa, the local population looks on at the destruction of a village

in the USSR, 1941

Map of Operation Barbarossa, 1941 Millie Baran remembers the violence and the chaos of the German invasion.

JUN 23

The Einsatzgruppen begin mass killings in

the Soviet Union

An execution by a German police firing squad in Soviet-

occupied Bochnia, Poland

German policemen leading Jews to execution in Soviet-occupied Uzbornia, Poland

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Extract from guidelines by Heydrich for higher SS and police leaders in the occupied

territories of the Soviet Union, from July 2, 1941

A Yiddish note, found in a woman’s clothing during an exhumation carried out in October 1944 at the murder site of Jews near the Soviet-occupied village of Antanase, Lithuania

Map of Einsatzgruppen massacres in Eastern Europe, June 1941-November

1942

JUN 28

The Romanian “Iron Guard” kill 1,500 Jews

in Iasi, Romania

Jews who were taken to the police headquarters in Iasi, Romania during a pogrom; Shmuel Arie Leib Zeltzer is at the forefront of

the photo, taken June 29, 1941

Mark Grinims describes the fate of the Jews in Iasi, and how he survived two

roundups.

JUN 30

Germany occupies Lvov, Poland; 4,000 Jews are

killed

Ukrainian nationalist women parading before Nazis in Lvov,

Poland

Ukrainian citizens attacking Jews in Lvov, Poland

Regina Stark recalls the German occupation of Lvov.

JUL 1

Einsatzgruppe D begins operating in Bessarabia

(Romania); 160,000 Jews are murdered

The arrest of the last community committee members in Balti, Rumania, July 1941

Bezalel Fixler discusses the day his town was occupied by the Germans.

JUL 8

The systematic murder of the Jews of Vilna (Lithuania) begins at

Ponary, south of Vilna

Jews with their heads covered being taken to their murder

site at Ponary by members of the Lithuanian militia, 1941

Jews digging a trench in Ponary, Lithuania, in which they were later buried after

being shot William Good describes surviving almost certain death at Ponary.A teaspoon found at the

Ponary killing site

A ribbon from a girl's dress found at the murder site

Ponary in 1955

The wife of Misha Pruzhan being questioned by a Gestapo man at the Vilna ghetto gates in Poland

JUL 24

The Kishinev (Moldova) ghetto is established

A street in the Jewish quarter of Kishinev, Romania

Ida Goldis, who lived in the Kishinev ghetto, Romania

JUL 31

Hermann Goering orders Heydrich to plan

the “Final Solution”

Translation of a letter from Hermann Goering to Reinhard Heydrich, Berlin, July 31, 1941

Hermann Goering, one of the heads of the Nazi rule in Germany, watching his battalion marching on

Luftwaffe Day in Berlin, Germany, March 1939

Echoes Student Handout: The "Final Solution"

AUG 1

50,000 Jews are confined in the

Bialystok (Poland) ghetto

Deportees in the ghetto at Bialystok, Poland

The entrance gate to the ghetto at Bialystok, Poland

SEP 3

The first experimental gassings are conducted

at Auschwitz

Photograph taken post-war of gas chamber in Auschwitz,

Poland

Canisters of Zyklon B in the museum of Auschwitz, Poland

John Frank recalls finding out about the gassings at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

SEP 8

The siege of Leningrad (Russia) begins

Dostoevsky Street in Leningrad, USSR, after an artillery shelling, August 1941

Map of the invasion of the Soviet Union, 1941-1942

Anna Kozyrev remembers the siege of Leningrad.

SEP 15

Romanian authorities deport 150,000 Jews to

Transnistria; approximately 90,000

die

A photograph of deportation of Jews from Bessarabia, Romania to Transnistria,

Ukraine in 1941; among those photographed is David

Gurevitz, the father of the submitter, Yosef Govrin

Deportation of Briceva Jews to Transnistria by Romanian

gendarmes and local collaborators; Briceva,

Bessarabia, Romania, 1941 Norbert Nadler describes being

deported to Transnistria.Dress in which Roza

Rosenstrauss was deported from her home, later

recreated as a patchwork skirt during the years of exile in

Transnistria

A teddy bear from Transnistria, belonged to Riva

Katz from the Sharogrod ghetto

SEP 19

German Jews are ordered to wear the

Jewish Badge Deportation of Jews in Eisenbach, Germany Alexander Katten reflects on receiving a

Yellow Star on his birthday.

SEP 29

33,771 Jews are murdered at Babi Yar near Kiev (Ukraine) by

members of Einsatzgruppe C

The site in Babi Yar, Ukraine where 33,771 Jews from Kiev

were murdered by the Sonderkommando 4A of the

Einstazgruppen C

Velvele Valentin Pinkert (Ida Pinkert's son) riding a bicycle; he was murdered at Babi Yar Samuel Orshan explains what happened

at Babi Yar.

Order for Kiev's Jews to assemble near Babi Yar

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Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1941

OCT 1

The first transport (of prisoners of war)

reaches Majdanek (Poland) extermination

camp

Barracks after the liberation, Majdanek, Poland, 1944

The crematorium after the liberation, Majdanek, Poland,

1944

A Zyklon B label from Majdanek, now in the State

Museum of Majdanek

A crushed aluminium bowl from Majdanek, now in the State Museum of Majdanek

Inmate’s wooden clog from Majdanek

OCT 15

Deportation of German and Austrian Jews to ghettos in the East

begins

Deportation of Jews by the German police, Galingen,

Germany

A child selling seeds in the ghetto of Kovno, Lithuania

Walter Feiden recounts being deported to the Lodz ghetto.

OCT 28

Germans murder thousands of Kovno

(Lithuania) Jews

Dr. Elhanan Elkes, chairman of the Council of Elders in the

Kovno ghetto, and Dr. Moshe Berman in Kovno

Album chronicling the events in the Kovno ghetto, compiled

by Avraham Tory, with graphics by Fritz Gadiel

Fani Aronow reflects on her sister's fate.

Deportation of German Jews to Lodz, Poland

NOV 24

A ghetto is established in Theresienstadt, near

Prague (Czechoslovakia)

A main street in the ghetto of Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia

A doll from the Theresienstadt ghetto,

dressed as a nurse Echoes Student Handout: Poem: The

Butterfly by Pavel Friedman Vera Schiff recalls the establishment of

Theresienstadt.A material identity tag,

Theresienstadt A 50 Krone banknote issued in the Theresienstadt ghetto

Miniature kitchen utensils that Vera Bader received from her friend Eva Kozower in the Theresienstadt ghetto before Eva and

her family were deported to Auschwitz and murdered

NOV 30

30,000 Riga (Latvia) Jews are arrested and subsequently shot in the Rumbula Forest

A child standing next to a memorial monument in

Rumbuli, Latvia

Deportation from the ghetto of Riga, Latvia, to an

execution site, probably Rumbula

Echoes Student Handout: Salitter's Report Ruvin Fridman describes the arrest and

murder of Latvian Jews in the Rumbula Forest.Echoes Student Handout: Hilde

Sherman's Testimony

DEC 7

The Japanese surprise attack the American Naval base at Pearl

Harbor, Hawaii, then a US territory

The USS Arizona burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941

Katsugo Miho discusses his experience during the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

DEC 7

The German army issues “Night and Fog”

order

Claude Gutmann, a Jewish resistance activist in France, who was sent to Auschwitz on November 20, 1943 Echoes Student Handout: Partisans

DEC 8The United States

enters World War II Roosevelt delivers the speech to Congress

DEC 8

Killing operations begin at Chelmno (Poland) extermination camp

Deportation of Jews to Chelmno camp from

Wloclawek, Poland; on the right, gendarme policemen

A church in which Jews were kept prior to their

extermination at Chelmno, Poland

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Two prisoners’ testaments from Chelmno

Jewish deportees in Lodz, Poland, on the way to

Chelmno extermination camp

Leg irons that Jewish forced laborers at the Chelmno

death camp were shackled with

Yad Vashem Resource Center: A call for revenge from the will of some of the last

prisoners at the Chelmno death camp Abba Kovner, photo taken in

Vilna, Poland An underground seminar in

Vilna, Poland, 1941

DEC 31

The Jewish underground in Vilna

issues a partisan manifesto calling for

resistance

A Jew climbing out of a melina (hiding place) at 6 Strashun Street in Vilna

Personal notebook of Abba Kovner

Echoes Student Handout: Pronouncement by Abba Kovner

Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1942 JAN 16

Germans begin deportation of Jews

from Lodz to Chelmno

Women and children with their belongings during their deportation, Lodz, Poland, 1942

JAN 20

The Wannsee Conference takes place

The villa in which the Wannsee conference was

conducted in Berlin, Germany

Key Historical Concepts in Holocaust Education: The

Wannsee Conference

A page from the Protocols of the Wannsee Conference that

lists the number of Jews included in the plan for the

Final Solution

Reinhard Heydrich, leader of the SD and head of the RSHA,

in Wannsee, Germany

JAN 21

The Jewish military underground is

established in Vilna

Jewish partisans from Vilna who fought in the Rodniki

Forest, returning to the city after its liberation.

Josef Glazman, the FPO organizer, and an important leader of the Vilna district

underground and partisans Echoes Student Handout:

Pronouncement by Abba Kovner Anna Kremer reflects on being a

member of the FPO.

FPO member Liza Magun, killed in February 1943

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Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1942

MAR 17

Belzec extermination camp begins functioning

Two Ukrainian guards at Belzec, Poland, in 1942

Two SS guards at Belzec, Poland

A map of the camp in Belzec, Poland Joachim Schoenfeld recalls the first

time he learned about Belzec.Map of extermination camps in occupied Poland, 1942

MAY 3

The first mass killing of Jews in Sobibor

extermination camp occurs

A model of the Sobibor camp by Sasha Pecherski, Rostow,

USSR

Train tracks where the camp at Sobibor, Poland, once

stood

Chaim Engel remembers arriving at Sobibor, being assigned to work, and realizing his brother was murdered.

Franz Paul Stangl, commander of Sobibor,

March-September 1942, and commander of Treblinka,

September 1942-August 1943

House and suitcase keys found through archaeological

excavations at Sobibor extermination camp

A German sketch of the camp at Sobibor, Poland

MAY 27

The Czech underground assassinates Reinhard

Heydrich Reinhard Heydrich, head of the RSHA

JUN 2

The BBC announces 700,000 Jews have been

killed in Poland

Member of the Polish government-in-exile, Jan Karski, who had been smuggled into the Warsaw ghetto and a concentration

camp, and afterwards informed world leaders on the treatment of the Jews

JUN 22

Auschwitz-Birkenau receives the first

deportation of Jews from Drancy transit

camp

Jews in the Drancy detention camp in France on December

3, 1942

The deportation of Jews from Marseilles and its environs,

early morning hours of January 24, 1943; the Gare

d`Arenc train station

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Letter regarding the deportation of Jews from France, The Netherlands, and Belgium to Auschwitz, stamped June 23, 1942 Joseph Krosberg describes being

deported from Drancy to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Mr. Elbaum's aluminum cup from Drancy, France; he

perished in Auschwitz

Jews boarding a deportation train in Westerbork,

Netherlands, bound for Auschwitz, 1942-1943

Echoes Student Handout: Collaborators

JUL 19

Himmler orders elimination of all Jews in

the Generalgouvernement

Portrait of Heinrich Himmler, SS Chief, Head of the Gestapo and the Waffen SS, Minister of the Interior, and second-most

important man in the Reich; photo taken July 31, 1944

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Order by Himmler for the Completion of the

"Final Solution" in the Generalgouvernement, given July 19,

1942

Echoes Student Handout: The "Final Solution"

JUL 22

The mass deportation from the Warsaw ghetto

to Treblinka extermination camp

begins

Deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto of Poland to the Treblinka death camp, 1942

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Announcement of the evacuation of the Jews from the Warsaw ghetto, July 22,

1942

Echoes Student Handout: Collaborators

JUL 28

The Jewish Fighting Organization (Z.O.B.) is

founded in Warsaw

Mordechai Anielewicz, leader of the ZOB (standing from right), in Warsaw, Poland

Josef Kaplan, a leader in the Jewish underground and a

founder of the "ZOB" in Warsaw, Poland

Echoes Student Handout: Armed Resistance in the Ghettos and Camps

Vladka Meed remembers the founding of the Z.O.B.

AUG 8

The US receives information on a plan to

annihilate Jews but delays publication to

verify sources

The telegram from Gerhart Riegner, received by the

Foreign Office in August 1942

From left to right: Dr. Nachum Goldman, Josef Rosensaft, Dr. Gerhart

Riegner, representative of the World Jewish Congress in

Geneva, Mr. Epstein, Director-General of the

Frankfurt Jewish Community, and the engineer Ludvig Zajf.

SEP 12

The Battle of Stalingrad begins

Soviets preparing to ward off a German assault in

Stalingrad, USSR

The "Order of the Red Star" awarded to Benjamin Cherny

for extraordinary valor in defense of the Soviet Union

Map of the Soviet Union, 1942

NOV 8

The Allies invade North Africa

Royal air force aircraft called Supermarine Spitfire Mark Vs,

assembled for Operation Torch, undergoing initial

engine tests at North Front, Gibraltar

A flyer in French and Arabic that was distributed by Allied

forces in the streets of Casablanca, calling on citizens to cooperate with the Allied

forces

Map of the Allied invasion in northwest Africa, November 8, 1942

Sidney Chriqui describes the invasion of Casablanca, Morocco.

The Allies' invading fleet in Algeria, November 1942

DEC 17

The Allies condemn German mass murder

Newspaper clip from The Wilmington Morning Star on

December 18, 1942

The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied

Poland book cover, Republic of Poland, Ministry of Foreign

Affairs, 1942.

Newspaper clip from The Wilmington Morning Star on December 20, 1942

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9

Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1943

JAN 18

Jews launch an armed resistance to

deportations from the Warsaw ghetto

German soldiers facing Jews who were caught during the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in Poland,

1943

A Mauser rifle found after the war amongst the ruins of a building on Gęsia Street, in

the area of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Call to resistance by the Jewish Fighting

Organization in the Warsaw ghetto, January 1943

One of twin rings used as a special means of identification in secret encounters between the commanders of the Jewish Military Union in the Warsaw ghetto and commanders of

the Polish underground

A sweater made for Yael Rosner by her mother while

hiding in the Warsaw ghetto; both mother and daughter

survived

Echoes Student Handout: Armed Resistance in Ghettos and Camps

Echoes Student Handout: Personal Testimonies

FEB 2The German army

surrenders at Stalingrad German soldiers raising a white flag in surrender at Stalingrad,

USSR, February 1943 Ignac Feldman recalls the German

surrender at Stalingrad.

FEB 26

The first transport of Sinti-Roma reaches Auschwitz-Birkenau

Arrest of Sinti-Roma

APR 19

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins

SS members on the street near a burning building during

the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 1943

SS soldiers guarding Jews caught with weapons during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Echoes Student Handout: Armed Resistance in Ghettos and Camps

Sol Rosenberg recalls participating in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Commander of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Mordechai

Anielewicz

A destroyed underground bunker, exposed during the suppression of the Warsaw

Ghetto Uprising

Echoes Student Handout: Personal Testimonies

APR 19

The Bermuda Conference convenes

Attendees of the Bermuda Conference in 1943 Echoes Student Handout: Bermuda Conference

JUL 10 The Allies invade Sicily

Allied leaders in the Sicilian campaign

An American crew checks their Sherman tank after landing at Red Beach 2 in

Sicily on July 10, 1943

Map of Allied assault on Sicily, July 10, 1943

Mary Morris remembers the allied invasion of Sicily.

AUG 2

The uprising at Treblinka begins

Smoke rising from the Treblinka camp in Poland

during a revolt on August 2, 1943

Rudolf Masarek, one of the leaders of the Treblinka revolt

in 1943 Sigmund Rolat discusses the fate of his father, who died during the Treblinka

uprising.Sculpture by Treblinka death camp survivor, Samuel Willenberg, titled "The Treblinka Inmates’ Revolt, August 2, 1943" (sculpture

created 2002-2003)

SEP 1

The Vilna underground uprising fails

The beit midrash, or house of religious study, of the "Vilna Gaon" (Elijah Ben Solomon Zalman) in the Vilna ghetto in Lithuania

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Proclamation by the FPO calling for

revolt in Vilna, given September 1, 1943

Sam Hamburg reflects on the failed Vilna ghetto uprising.

SEP 23

The Vilna ghetto is liquidated

Ruins in the city of Vilna, Poland Vilna ghetto ruins, 1946 Esther Bratt describes the liquidation of

the Vilna ghetto.

OCT 1-2

Danish Jews are rescued

The boat of Gilbert Lassen, a fisherman from the village of Gilleleje, in which groups of Jews were smuggled out of Denmark in October 1943

A photograph of Jewish refugees from Denmark upon their arrival at the shores of

Sweden, October 1943

Echoes Student Handout: Rescue in Denmark

Hans Moller recalls how Danish fisherman helped transport Danish Jews

to safety in Sweden.

OCT 14

The uprising at Sobibor begins

Photograph of Alexander Pechersky, who participated in the camp uprising in Sobibor,

Poland Dov Freiberg, a survivor of

the Sobibor uprising; photograph taken in Poland after the liberation, August

1944

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Testimony of Alexander Pechersky regarding the revolt at the Sobibor

Extermination Camp

Thomas Blatt remembers the participating in the Sobibor uprising.

Survivors of the Sobibor death camp who took part in the

revolt in Sobibor on October 14, 1943

Echoes Student Handout: Armed Resistance in Ghettos and Camps

Regina Zielinski recalls testifying at a war crimes trial.

NOV 3

Germans launch Operation Harvest Festival (Erntefest)

One of many mass graves of Operation Harvest Festival,

the SS massacre of remaining Jews in the Lublin district and

the Lublin ghetto of the Generalgouvernement

Portrait of Christian Wirth, an SS officer who served as an inspector of the euthanasia

installations in the Reich, and later participated in the inspection of the Jews'

extermination in the camps

Map of Majdanek environs, Fall 1943

Linda Penn describes her memories of Erntefest.Echoes Student Handout: The "Final

Solution"

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10

Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1944

JAN 26

The War Refugee Board is established

A meeting of the refugee committee in the US Secretary of State's office, Washington D.C., March 21, 1944

Ruth Gruber remembers the formation of the War Refugee Board.

MAR 19

German troops occupy Hungary

Jews being humiliated by members of the Arrow Cross Party in Budapest, Hungary

A Jewish man on a street in Budapest, Hungary, beside a propaganda placard where

Jews are compared to communists, 1944

Map of the German administration of Europe, 1944

Ivan Deutsch reflects on the day the German army invaded Hungary.

A homeless Jewish man in the ghetto of Budapest, Hungary

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Testimony from Eva Heyman regarding

the German invasion into Hungary

MAR 24

President Roosevelt warns Hungary to

refrain from anti-Jewish measures

Photograph of US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt,

1933

A page from an antisemitic newspaper in Hungary

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Telegram by Greek government in exile on the Prime Minister's call to help in the

rescue and escape of Jews, from March 29, 1944

APR 16

Hungarian government registers Jews and confiscates their

property

An announcement regarding the confiscation of Jewish

property in the town of Koszeg, Hungary, 1944

Transfer of Jewish belongings to a marked house in the

ghetto of Budapest, Hungary Yad Vashem Resource Center: Excerpt from diary of Eva Heyman regarding

confiscation of Jewish property

Susan Bendor recalls how life changed under German occupation.

Confiscated Jewish property in Hungary

MAY 15

Mass deportations of Hungarian Jews to

Auschwitz-Birkenau begin

"Selection" of Hungarian Jews on the ramp at the Auschwitz-

Birkenau death camp in Poland, May-June 1944

Jews arriving at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Telegram by Legation Counselor von Thadden announcing the schedule for a large

deportation of Hungarian Jews to the East, Berlin, 1944

Katharine Tambor recalls being deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.Woman and children on their

way to the gas chamber at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Excerpt from diary of Eva Heyman regarding the deportations from the ghetto to Poland

"Selection" on the Auschwitz-Birkenau platform Echoes Student Handout: Excerpt from Night by Elie Wiesel

JUN 6

D-Day (Invasion of Normandy)

Front page of the New York Times on June 6, 1944

US Navy ships off the coast of Normandy, France; photo

taken July 1, 1944

Map of the D-Day landings William Williams remembers landing in France on D-Day.

German soldiers bombing American troops with 88mm

guns on the beach at Normandy, France, on D-Day,

June 6, 1944

American troops arriving at the beach of Normandy,

France, on D-Day, June 6, 1944

JUN 23

The Red Cross visits Theresienstadt

A concert in the Theresienstadt ghetto,

Czechoslovakia, June 23, 1944

Jewish children photographed by members of the

International Red Cross investigation committee

during their visit to Theresienstadt,

Czechoslovakia, June 23, 1944 Eric Nash recalls how Theresienstadt

was used for the purpose of propaganda. Jews from the Theresienstadt

camp watching a performance, October 1944

A timetable of weekly football games of the Theresienstadt

team

A report on cultural activities in the Theresienstadt ghetto

Monopoly game from Theresienstadt ghetto

JUL 20

An attempt to assassinate Hitler fails

A crowd in Munich, Germany, greeting Hitler after an assassination attempt

Klaus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (1907-1944)

Yad Vashem Resource Center: Arthur Nebe, 1894-1945

Lisa Slater discusses a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler.

JUL 25

The Soviet Army liberates Majdanek

Local population by a mass grave at Majdanek, Poland, after the camp's liberation

The crematorium after liberation, Majdanek, Poland,

1944

Bernhard Storch describes participating in the liberation of

Majdanek.

A painting titled "Appell, 1944" by Zinovii Tolkatchev

(1903–1977), Gouache, charcoal and crayon on paper

A soup bucket improvised out of a tin can, belonging to an

inmate at Majdanek

Prisoner's trousers from Majdanek, courtesy of the State Museum in Majdanek

AUG 7

The liquidation of the Lodz ghetto begins

A group of women and children in Lodz, Poland,

during their deportation to Auschwitz

Jews and Jewish policemen from the Lodz ghetto standing

with their belongings near train tracks, prior to

deportation. Nomick Cynamon remembers being deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau on

the same transport as Chaim Rumkowski, the head of the Jewish

Council in Lodz.

Deportation of Jews from the Lodz ghetto

Women and children on either side of a chain link fence in the

Lodz ghetto

Bread ration card of Leah Epstajn from the Lodz ghetto

A silver pin found in the ruins of the Lodz ghetto by Shmuel Beresh, one of the last Jews in

the ghetto

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11

Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1944

SEP 20

Churchill announces formation of Jewish

Brigade

Youth survivors with soldiers from the Jewish Brigade

Yad Vashem Resource Center: From the speech made by Abba Kovner to the soldiers of the Jewish Brigade, 1945

Max Jotkowitz remembers the formation of the Jewish Brigade.Soldiers of the Jewish Brigade

standing guard over German prisoners in Italy, April 1945

A soldier from the Jewish Brigade at Bergen Belsen,

Germany; photograph taken postwar

OCT 3The Polish uprising in

Warsaw is crushed

Members of the Polish underground on a captured

German tank during the Polish uprising in Warsaw, 1944

Two Polish rebels, among them Walter Kostecki (right) in

a ruined street of Warsaw, Poland, during the Polish

rebellion, 1944

Christine Stamper describes life during the Warsaw uprising.

OCT 7

The Sonderkommando uprising at Auschwitz-

Birkenau begins

Ruins of the crematoria at Auschwitz, Poland, bombed during the Sonderkommando revolt

Echoes Student Handout: Armed Resistance in the Ghettos and Camps Anna Heilman remembers the

Auschwitz uprising, and the death of her sister.Yad Vashem Resource Center: Robota,

Rosa

NOV 25

Himmler orders gassings to stop at Auschwitz-

Birkenau

Inmates working at building the gas chambers and crematorium at Auschwitz, Poland

Ryszard Horowitz reflects upon the end of gassings at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

DEC 16 The Battle of the Bulge

Elderly refugees and wrecked American vehicles during the

Battle of the Bulge near Bastogne, Belgium

German troops advancing past abandoned American

equipment Floyd Dade remembers the Battle of the Bulge.

US Forces' Paul Rosenblatt’s military jacket with different medal ribbons, among them the Purple Heart

Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1945

JAN 17

The Soviets conquer half of Budapest

Jews, in a hospital, who were saved by Wallenberg after the

liberation in Budapest, Hungary

A woman and a soldier during identification of corpses in

Budapest, Hungary

Shlomo Barnea recalls the liberation of Budapest.

JAN 17

The Germans begin “Death March” from Auschwitz-Birkenau

A death march to Mauthausen, Austria, 1945

The rucksack that Haya Rosenbaum (née Prywes) took

from a pile of clothes in Birkenau before the Death

March

Elisabeth Kasik reflects upon the evacuation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

JAN 27

The Soviets liberate Auschwitz-Birkenau

Inmates behind barbed wire, after the liberation of the

camp at Auschwitz, Poland, 1945

Soviet soldiers escort two prisoners on the day of their liberation from Auschwitz,

Poland

Paula Lebovics remembers the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Young survivors at Auschwitz, liberated by the Red Army in

January 1945

A child's shoe from Auschwitz that was taken by the painter Zinovii Tolkatchev, a soldier in

the Red Army

A toothbrush from Auschwitz, brought there by a deportee

The cup used by the inmate Miriam Prince in Auschwitz

after receiving it from a French inmate

APR 11

United States Army liberates Buchenwald

Jewish children and youth camp survivors prior to leaving

the Buchenwald camp in Germany at the time of

liberation

American medics helping a young survivor in Penig,

Germany, 1945 Echoes Student Handout: A Liberator's

Thought by Harry J Herder, Jr

Leo Hymas recalls participating in the liberation of Buchenwald.

Inmates resting on the barrack bunks after the liberation of Buchenwald, Germany, April

16, 1945

A jug from Buchenwald found by American soldiers,

containing loot stolen by victims

Leon Bass remembers the liberation of Buchenwald.

APR 12 President Roosevelt dies

Front page of the New York Times on April 12, 1945

Chaim Weizmann, future President of Israel, meeting

with President Truman in Washington D.C., July 18, 1948

William Zeck describes guarding the train that carried President Roosevelt's

body.

APR 15

British forces liberate Bergen-Belsen

concentration camp

Young woman after the liberation of the Bergen-

Belsen camp in Germany, April 1945

The British army burning down barracks in Bergen-

Belsen, Germany, April 1945

Henry Mikols remembers the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.

A bag made of a blanket found by Basha Leibowitz in Bergen-Belsen after liberation; she put all of her possessions in it

Hanah Pik discusses interacting with her childhood friend, Anne Frank, at

Bergen-Belsen.

APR 28 Mussolini is shot

Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, 1940

Mussolini abandoning the Prefecture in Milan on April 25, 1945; believed to be the

last photo of him alive

Walter Wolff discusses seeing Mussolini shortly before he was shot.

APR 30

Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide

The Führerbunker in the garden of the Reich

Chancellery, destroyed in the Second World War

The front page of the Stars and Stripes newspaper,

announcing the death of Hitler

Abraham Resnick remembers guarding the Hitler bunker after Hitler's suicide.

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12

Year Date Entry Photos, Artifacts, & Instructional Videos Documents, Handouts, & Maps Testimonies

1945

MAY 7

Germany surrenders to the Allies

Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signing the final surrender terms on May 8, 1945, in

Berlin, Germany

United States military policemen reading about the

German surrender in the newspaper, Stars and Stripes

MAY 8

V-E (Victory in Europe) Day

Winston Churchill waving to crowds in Whitehall, London, on the day he confirms that the war with Germany was

over

Chicagoans took to the streets for a V-E Day celebration on

May 9, 1945 Rita Geibel recalls V-E Day in London.

Two young women in Montreal read the front page

of The Montreal Daily Star

V-E Day celebrations in London, England, UK, May 8,

1945

JUL 16

The Potsdam Conference

The "Big Three" pose with their principal advisors at

Potsdam, Germany, circa July 28 - August 1, 1945

Joseph Stalin and Harry Truman meeting at the

Potsdam Conference on July 18, 1945

AUG 6 -9

The United States drops atomic bombs on

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Atomic cloud over Hiroshima

Letter received from General Thomas Handy to General Carl

Spaatz on July 25, 1945, authorizing the dropping of

the first atomic bomb

Kurt Levi reflects on the bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Front page of the New York Times on August 6, 1945

AUG 15

V-J (Victory over Japan) Day

Civilians and service personnel in London's Piccadilly Circus celebrate the news of Allied victory over Japan in August

1945

Crowds celebrating V-J Day in Times Square on August 14,

1945 Henny Bauer remembers hearing about the end of the war.

Citizens and workers of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, celebrate V-J Day on August 14, 1945

NOV 20

The Nuremberg Trials begin

Chief American prosecutor Robert H Jackson addressing

the Nuremberg court, November 20, 1945

A defendant in the Nuremberg Trial, Hermann Goering, 1945-

1946 Excerpt from Rudolf Hoess's Testimony Ernest Uiberall reflects on participating

in the Nuremberg Trials.

View of judges' panel during testimony at the Nuremberg

Trials, 1945

Defendants' bench in the Nuremberg Trial, 1945-1946

Echoes Student Handout: War Crimes Trials

Edith Coliver discusses being an interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials.

Echoes & Reflections is a trademark of the Echoes & Reflections Partnership. © 2005-2018 All rights reserved.